Energy Q&A.

Clearing The Air

Opinions Split On Ceiling Fans' Direction

Q--We have the operating instructions of two ceiling fans installed in our home and they both differ from your recommendations as to reversing (the direction of) the blades.

Kindly explain your explanation.

Doris Eckman

A--Our recent column on the benefits of ceilings fans in the summertime brought a handful of letters and calls from readers who were confused by our recommendations.

As it turns out, the way you set a ceiling fan to operate really depends on personal taste. That wasn't addressed in the column and we apologize for any misunderstandings.

Let's explain what comes down to two options.

The question we answered focused on which way the blades of a fan should spin (from the perspective of looking up at the blades).

In our recent column, Ross Caputo, an account manager with ComEd, advised that homeowners set their ceiling fans so that the blades spin clockwise when the weather is warm and your air conditioner is running.

(To select the fan rotation, there's usually a small switch on the hub below the blades. If the button is pushed up, the blades' direction usually will be clockwise.)

By spinning clockwise, Caputo says, the blades will pull up cool air-conditioned air that has settled down on the floor and mix it with warm air higher in the room.

With the fan operating in this mode, what you will mostly feel is coolness of the air conditioner on your skin.

In this mode, however, what you won't feel is a breeze generated by the fan. Air is instead being pushed up above the blades and against the ceiling, creating an updraft effect.

That brings us to the second, and what may be the more popular, choice. If you set the fan so that the blades spin counterclockwise, you'll be creating a noticeable breeze or downdraft in the room.

This is usually the recommendation made by fan manufacturers, including Gary Ball, a marketing manager with the Casablanca Fan Co. in Pomona, Calif. "In the summer, you want the air pushed by the fan to blow on you to create a wind chill effect," says Ball.

This fools your body into thinking that it's cooler than it really is. It's similar to the effect of sticking your arm out of the window of a fast-moving car on a hot day, Ball says. "Suddenly, it doesn't feel so hot anymore."

This counterclockwise mode is also the mode you will most likely prefer if you don't have air conditioning, or if it's a moderately warm day and you're not running your air conditioning.

What you're going to feel here mostly, however, is the cooling effect of the fan and not so much the cooling effect of your air conditioner, especially if you're directly below the fan.

There are people, however, who don't like the feel of the fan breeze on their skin. And if you have a ceiling fan over a desk, or over a place you prepare food, you might want the clockwise option so that things don't get blown around or hot food isn't cooled down.

So, as it turns out, there's not a right or wrong way to set a ceiling fan. "An individual's needs are going to vary," says Ball.

Realistically, however, most people will probably opt for the counterclockwise option. "Generally people buy a fan because they want air to blow on them," says Ball.

The best bet, however, is to experiment and try operating the ceiling fan both ways, especially if it's located directly above a place where you spend a lot of time, such as a bed or your favorite chair. Then determine which mode feels best.

The bottom line is that both directions offer benefits. If a ceiling fan can reduce the amount of time you're running your air conditioner, you will be saving a good amount of energy dollars this summer.

It's a lot more costly to run an energy-hungry air conditioner compressor than it is to run a ceiling fan--or any type of fan for that matter.

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Got a question about home energy or home environmental issues? Write to Energy Q&A, Chicago Tribune, Your Place section, 435 N. Michigan Ave., 4th Floor, Chicago, Ill. 60611. Or you can e-mail energy qa@aol.com. Questions will be answered only through the column.